Door-bridge for railway-cars.



' 1,168,983. Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

H. WALLINGFORD.

000R BRIDGE FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION FILED APR.16I 1915.

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HENRY WALLINGFORD, 0F BONAPARTE, IOWA.

DOOR-BRIDGE FOB RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1

Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

Application filed April 16, 1915. Serial No. 21,785.

' the same.

This invention relates to railway rolling stock, and more particularly to freight or cattle ears, and the primary object of the invention is to provide a bridge for form-.

.ing an approach to the car, which is pi votally carried by the car structure, within the door of the car, so that it may be moved I tion, when desired.

into or out of an approach forming posi- Another object of the invention is to provide a yieldable mounting for one end of the rod by means of which the bridge is pivotally mounted, for permitting of the easy removal of the bridge from connection with the car, if it is so desired.-

' Another object of this invention .is to provide a-novel form of'catch structure p0 sitioned .within the side frames of the car door, for holding the bridge in a vertical position within the door, so as to permit of a free and unimpeded movement of the ordinary car door.

VViththe foregoing and other objects in view this invention consists in such' novel construction, combination and' features of arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanylng drawings and claimed. In describing the invention in detail, ref- I erence will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like charactersdesignate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a side, elevat on of a frag ment of a car, showing the improved bridge 6 attached thereto, Fig. 2 is a cross sectional View on the line -2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 'is a fragmentary cross sectional view, showing the bridgein an extended position for forming an approach for the car door, Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 4, and Fig. '6' is a section on the line 6--6 of Fig. 3. 1

Referring more particularly to the draw- I ings, 1 designatesan ordinary freight or stock car havinga door 2, which has side casings or sills 3 and 4, of the ordinary construction.

Ihe sill 4 is provided with a recess 5 formed therein, in which is seated a spring plate 6. The spring plate 6 is held in place by a metallic plate 7, which is secured to the exterior of the sill 4, adjacent its lower end, in any suitable manner, such as by screws or analogous fastening devices,

illustrated at 8. The'lower endof the re silient or yieldable spring plate 6 is provided with a substantially semi-circular tapered recess 9, which coacts with the arcuate end 10 of the opening 11, which is formedin the plate 7 for forming a bearingfor one end of the rod 12. The rod 12 extends across the width of the car door 2, and has its end opposite to the one which isseated.

in the bearing formed by the end of the yieldable plate 6 and the plate 7, seated in a bearing formed in a plate' 14, which is secured to the sill3 of thecar door i i-any H suitable manner, as is shown at 15.-

The rod 12 has the lie plate 17 having about the rod 12. k tangentially from the rod 12 and has cleabridge structure 16 mounted thereon, which comprises amet alw its inner end rolled The plate 17 extend 18 mounted upon its upper surface, for pre-f venting the slipping of cattle when passing over the bridge, or for facilitating the running of trucks or the likeover the bridge when it forms an approach for the car door. The plate 17 is braced by angle irons 19, 20 and 21, which are secured to the under surface thereof, in any suitablemanner, for

efiiciently bracing the plate 17, so as to pre- "ent its sagging, bending or the like under extreme weight.-

I The outer end of the angle iron 19 is beveled,'so as to lie in facial abutment with the upper surface of a platform, or the like, along which a car is stopped. Y

Each of the sills 3 and 4 has staples 22 and 23 secured thereto, upwardly above the bearing plate. -'The staples 22 and 23 are provided with notches 24 formed therein, which areadapted for receiving theedges of the plate 17, when the plate is-positioned in a vertical position, as indicated in Fig. 2

of the drawings,,for holding it against oscillatory movement duringthe travel of the car. 1

The notches 24 have inclined a proaches,

for facilitating the insertion of t e'edge of the plate 17 into thenotches, and the staples incline outwardly,-asthey extend inwardly toward the inner edges pf the sills, as is clearly shown in Fig. 6 of=the drawings.

' When it is desired to remove theiapproach or bridge structure 16 from connectlon to the car 1, the yieldable plate 6 is pressed inwardly,,which permits of the removal of the endof the rod 12 out of the recess and the bearing formed by the lowergend of the yieldable plate 6 and the lower end-of the slot 11 which isformed in the plate 7, and

by placing the end of the rod against the yieldable plate 6, and moving it downwardly, after the opposite end has been inserted in the bearing formed in the plate. '14,'-th bridge may be easily attached tothe car.

WVhen loading the car 1, the bridge struc ture 16 is moved downwardly, to the position indicatedin Fig. 3 of the drawings,

at which time it forms an, approach for the car, for facilitating the loading or unloading of the car, andpreventing accident due to the slipping of the bridge or plate, used" inthe approach'to the car After the car is loaded or unloaded, thebridge structure may be moved upwardly into a vertical position, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, at which time it is in an unobstructing position with respect to the slidable door 25, of, the car structure 1, which'fslidable door may be moved into or out of a closed position without interfering with'the' bridge structure 16." I

In reducing thc'invention to practice, certain mino r features of construction, oom- .bIIHLtIOD, and arrangement of parts may action with the lower arcuate end of a slot within the scope of what is formed in said retaining plate for forming,

abearing for a rod, a bearing plate carried by the opposite sill of said dooi'way, a rod having one end journaled in said second named bearing, and a plate carried by said rod for movement therewith into or out of an approach forming position.

2. The combination with an ordinary railway freight or stock car having a door- .way and side sills 'fr'aming said doorway, of an app-roach bridge structure including a' plate, a rod secured to one edge of said plate for 'movement therewith, a yieldable plate carried by one'of said sills and have lngan arcuate recess formed in its lower end, a retaining plate carried by said sill exteriorly of said yieldable plate and being provided with a longitudinally extendingv slot having an arcuate lower end, the end r of said rod being seated in. said arcuate end and said arcuate recess for yieldably and rotatably supporting one end of the rod, a

bearing plate carried bythe o posite sill and having the end of said; r journaled therein opposite to the one journaled in said yieldable bearing'v 3. The combination with an ordinary railway freighter stock car having a doorway and side sills framing said doorway, of an approach bridge structure-including a plate, a rod secured to one edge of saidplate for movement therewith, a yieldable plate carried by one of said sills and havin an arcuate recessformed'in its lower en a retaining platecarried by said sill exteriorly of said yieldable plate and being provided with a longitudinally extending slot having an arcuate lower end, the end of said rod being seated in said arcuate end and said arcuate recess, for yieldably and rotatably supporting one end of the rod, a hearing plate carried by the opposite, s1ll and having the end of said rod'journaled therein opposite to the one journaled in said yieldable bearing, and means carried by said car sills for holding said bridge plate in a vertical position. r"

In 'testimony'whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY WALLINGFORD.

Witnesses: I

ROBERT BURNE'rr, 'L. M. WARE. 

